SHERRILL - The Silver City is shining once again as polished flatware, made by local workers, flies off the production line at the Sherrill Manufacturing facility.

After an 11-month production shutdown, the company struck a deal for more than $100,000 with Silver Superstore, an online retailer with a warehouse in Seattle, Wash. Fourteen full-time temporary positions have been added to complete the job over eight weeks. It is hoped that steady production can return in 2012.

"We both believed in a 'made in America' line of products that would be of interest to a vast amount of Americans," said Sherrill Manufacturing Co-owner Greg Owens about Silver Superstore. "I think the sentiment for buying 'made in America', if anything, has increased dramatically in the last couple of years as a result of the economic downturn and people realizing the need to provide employment for Americans."

Owens said the current run of flatware is expected to be available through Silver Superstore online and in retail stores nationwide in the fall.

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"It's wonderful," he said about the rebirth of production.

Around 80 people lost their jobs last May before the company declared bankruptcy in October. Owens cited stiff competition from cheaper products imported from China as one of the contributing factors for the last remaining American flatware makers ceasing production.

The current employees are a combination of rehired former employees, first-time employees and temporary workers.

Owens said the company would love to rehire more former employees if production picks up again.

"We had a great workforce with almost 200 folks here at one point," he said. "A lot of them, unfortunately, are still either unemployed or way under-employed."

He stressed the future of manufacturing and hiring is contingent on revenue generated by the new flatware production.

"There are no guarantees," he said. "Right now, it's nice to see the first spurt of manufacturing. The home-run would be to have one order after another and gradually build it back up. I can't predict whether that's going to happen but that's certainly our hope."

The first order has restored his belief that there is a place in the market for American made flatware.

"Hopefully, with the support of the public in purchasing the goods, if we can get them to literally fly off the shelves and get a second order right behind it then that would go a long way to making the dream into a reality," he said.

He feels that the restructured company, which has expanded into real estate and other ventures, can be profitable.

He said he is "very thankful" for the support of the community and lending institutions for having faith that the company could pull through the difficult time.

"Without that understanding and support then I think the place probably would have been auctioned off, leveled and turned into a parking lot," he said. "So it's nice to see that it did not happen that way."

The current manufacturing site was established by the Oneida Community in the early 1800s. The original factory manufactured bear traps, canned goods and leather items. In the late 1800s, the facility began to produce silverware. Ownership passed to Oneida Ltd. in 1880 and production was dramatically increased through the 1990s.